Rechele Brooks, Ph.D.

Bio

Dr. Brooks is a research scientist at the Institute. She received her BA from Pomona College and her Ph.D. from Boston University. Her main line of research centers on the development of social cognition in infancy. Her areas of interest include the study of gaze following and pointing. She has been examining the development of these important social cues in infancy and the attributions infants make about others’ perceptions and goals. She is also interested in how early social cognition contributes to the understanding of language and theory of mind in children with typical and atypical development.

CV

Educational Background

Academic Positions Held

2017-present: Research Scientist/Engineer, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington
2009-2017: Research Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington
2005-2009: Research Scientist, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington
2001-2005: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington

About the Lab

The Joint Visual Attention (JVA) Lab is located at the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences on the University of Washington Seattle campus. At the JVA Lab, we seek to understand infants’ and children’s social and cognitive development. We are interested in how infants and children understand the perspectives of others and how their understanding of people impacts their social interactions.

In the JVA Lab, we specifically study how infants and children understand the eye-gaze of others. The direction of an adult’s gaze conveys important information about objects of interest in the surroundings. By following the eye-gaze of others, adults can identify what another person wants, likes, or sees. This ability is usually called “gaze following” or “joint visual attention,” and is important for face-to-face social interactions. The JVA Lab investigates when and how infants develop this understanding of eye-gaze.

Some of the topics of our current research are:

General Gaze Following
- When do infants follow the eye-gaze of other people? How does this relate to their language development? How do infants learn about the perception of other people?

Robots
- What makes infants and children view non-human objects as agents (i.e., potentially sentient)? When will they interact with robot as if it is a person? How do infants determine if they should follow the “gaze” of a non-human object?

Joint Auditory Attention
- Do infants use social cues to understand what and when others can or cannot hear?

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Infants/Children
- How do children’s experiences with language and Deafness help them to become interested in eye
gaze during social interactions?
- Do infants and children who are deaf or hard of hearing rely more heavily on visual social cues (e.g., eye-gaze, pointing) than their hearing peers?

For our research, we invite infants and toddlers to come to the lab with their parents. Children and the researcher(s) play with toys together at a table while the children sit on their parent’s lap. This structured play during the study lasts about 10 to 20 minutes, but families visit the lab for a full hour to allow time for paperwork, questions, and free-play time.

Students are encouraged to apply to be a 499 student or volunteer if the research being conducted at our lab matches with their interests. We usually have 3 to 6 undergraduate students who are earning credit for their lab work each quarter.